Ira
by zero9g9
Summary: [Mega Man Legends] 12 years is a long time to wait... and Ira had gotten tired of waiting.


**Chapter 1: 12 Years Later**

_"You know what? I've decided that once I get out of the hospital, I'm_

_going to learn how to be a Digger, just like you! Promise me that when I grow up,_

_you'll take me with you on one of your digs, OK?"_

He had said yes... and she was stupid enough to believe him.

Twelve long years Ira had waited for him to come back. She had trained to be a Digger-- and she was a good one, too! She had just gotten herself a Class A License just a while back, even! And yet... he still hadn't returned. Funny how that had worked. He had so completely impacted her life... changed how she turned out... who she had wanted to become... and then he had forgotten his promise.

_Sh-sh-sh._

Her head snapped to the right, and her gun arm thrust outward, pointing at the source of the noise. Right, this wasn't the time to be reminiscing anyway. 'When you're on a dig, you have to keep your focus'. That's what she had been taught at the Digger's Academy. She fired off a single, bright blue energy shot that was more like a flare than an attack, and it struck the wall, lighting that particular corner of the room just enough for Ira to see... nothing. Her mind was playing tricks on her again. Her gun arm lowered.

_Sh-sh-sh._

Then again... Ira whirled around to face the source of the pesky noise, gun arm raised... only to find a giant Reaverbot towering over her. It had to be at least twenty feet tall; she wondered how the thing had actually gotten into the room in the first place. It had a single spike atop its metal, rounded head, a beady red eye in the center of said head, and what looked like a squiggly indentation, like some sort of mouth, below that. Ira heard a whoosh, like machinery working above her, and backflipped to avoid an attack from above. A large, clublike arm slammed into the ground where she had been only moments earlier, hitting with enough force to dent the floor. The _metal_ floor. She did _not_ want to be on the receiving end of that. Ira heard a few _pwang_s, like the firing of a plasma blaster, and found herself running to the left to dodge the three shots that had been fired at her. Right, so it had a clubby right arm and a blaster for a left arm. Greaaaat.

She skidded to a halt just to the right of the thing, and fired off a few shots at it's arm. The only reaction to her bursts of fire was that typical, sing-song mocking _ching!_ that was so common of armor plating diffusing energy shots. Figured that the arm was heavily armored; it would have to be to hit with force like _that_ without breaking. She managed to fire off a shot at the thing's head before she had to dodge the club-arm again. Apparently it was faster than it looked. She waited, however, and didn't hear the _ching!_ that she had heard before. She instead heard a _pfoo!_, the sound of an energy blast being absorbed into a Reaverbot's systems. Jackpot.

She did a cartwheel to the right to avoid the three blaster shots the thing fired at her, and then fired off a few more shots at its head, dodging the resulting shots and club arm-- it was beginning to speed up. Good. She backflipped when it brought it's arm down at her again, and then ran up it. When she reached the thing's shoulder, she brought her blaster arm to it's head and held down the fire button, the rapid staccato of plasma shots being squelched out by the sound of the Reaverbot absorbing the lot of them. That was the funny thing about killing Reaverbots; it was easier to overload them than it was to destroy them, and that's exactly why most Diggers used energy weapons. Not to mention the fact that some of the more advanced and expensive energy weapons had near-limitless ammo- _Shit!_ Ira jumped off of the Reaverbot's shoulder barely in time to dodge three very, _very_ well aimed shots that filled the space where she had stood moments before, the main evidence that they had been there being sizzling stench of plasma. _Right, no monologuing in battle._

Ira pulled out a sticky bomb from her backpack with her left hand, and ran up behind the Reaverbot. She kicked off the ground with her foot, and made a large, almost unnaturally high jump above the Reaverbot's head. She threw the bomb down at its head at the peak of her jump, and then fired off a burst of 4 shots before she started to descend. _Clunk-sh... pfoo-pfoo-pfoo-Boom!_ The bomb exploded the moment the last of Ira's shots made contact with it, and the resulting wave of force catapaulted her through the air. She hit the far wall head-first, and her vision went black.

When Ira came to, she noticed two things. First, she wasn't dead. That was always good. And second, she didn't hear the giant Reaverbot operating anymore. She slowly opened her eyes and got up, fighting off the resulting wave of dizziness, and looked over at where the Reaverbot had been before. Or rather, where it still was, minus one head. She grinned, and then let out a sigh of relief. She walked over to what was essentially the Reaverbot's corpse, and climbed up it's no-longer-moving frame. She reached inside the hole on the body where the head had been, and fiddled around a bit, eventually pulling out a few large refractor shards that she stuck in the small backpack she constantly wore. Ira hopped down off of the Reaverbot, and landed with a small 'tunk' on the cold metal floor. She stretched out a bit with a yawn, and then looked herself over.

Her brown hair that was pulled into a short ponytail had been singed at the ends, giving her a mild case of split-ends, though her armor hadn't been affected much by the battle aside from a few small scratches. She admired the blue-clad, armored gun arm that covered her real right arm, and frowned. She had decided to have her gun-arm modeled after _his_ when she had first decided to splurge on one, and she regretted the decision now. The rest of her armor wasn't nearly as fancy or protective, however; covering her chest was a brown undershirt and a forest green, armored vest, made specifically to absorb a full number of things, ranging from energy blasts to sheer physical impacts. Her left arm was relatively bare, save for a black glove with grips on the fingertips and palm. Her legs sported a pair of specially-padded and armored cargo pants, and her feet were clad in a pair of boots made specifically to be heavy in water, but light on land.

Some ruins around the world were filled with water, after all, but the simple combo of a rebreather and some special boots pretty much fixed any problems she had with exploring those. Ira had to admit, however, that all the armor and equipment in the world didn't do you any good if you couldn't carry it. She had grown fit and strong in the 8 years she had been a digger, and god be damned if it didn't get her looks in town. Her mother, on the few occasions she saw her, always lectured her about how women belonged in the home, and Men should be the ones bringing back the money. She had always thought differently, and her physical appearance didn't help her mother's disposition around her any.

Ira sighed again. Why was she thinking about all this _now?_ She had a refractor to grab. She pulled out a small mapping device from her backpack, and looked at the room ahead on it. The energy readings in there were high, and from the way they looked... there was a pretty valuable refractor in there. She put away the mapping device, and strode onward, coming quickly to a small doorway. She pushed the simple, large button on the control panel next to the doorway, and it opened with a loud click and a small whirring sound, the two metal doors sliding to the sides to allow her entrance. The moment she entered the small, transitionary room, the doors she had entered by closed, and the doors ahead of her opened.

_Wow._ In the center of the room was a large, brilliant purple refractor. It had to be a good three quarters as tall as she was! Jeez... that thing was even bigger than the refractor that powered _The Windshear_, and that refractor had already been expensive. She walked up the small ramp to the platform that held the refractor-- no traps, no energy field protection... odd. _But, then again,_ she thought, _I guess that Reaverbot I fought is protection enough._ Her gun arm morphed back into a hand, and she reached out for the purple refractor with both hands. Ira picked up the refractor and hefted it over her right shoulder, shifting its weight so that it wouldn't fall off, and then turned around to head back to the entrance.

_Some time later..._

_Whirrrrrrr...rrrrr...rrrrr...rrrr...cla-clunk!_ The lift out of the ruins stopped with a loud clunk and a small jolt, and the door to the outside opened, blinding Ira a bit from the sudden light. She stepped outside of the small lift shaft, and took in a deep breath of the fresh air from outside, letting it out with a sigh and a smile. _Man, it's good to be outside again..._ she gazed down at the refractor held by her left arm, and her grin widened. _But it's better to be rich! Ha ha!_ Ira started walking away from the entrance to the ruins, and headed back towards _The Windshear_, simply enjoying the green surroundings.

And then came the crash.

The sonic boom was the first sign. Ira looked all around for the source of the noise, and then, finally, looked up to see some sort of pod headed towards her. She instinctively dropped the refractor on the ground and sprinted away as fast as she could, her thoughts singular and clear: _Oh, SHIT!_ The pod crashed into the ground behind her, and the resulting rumble caused Ira to trip and fall. She pulled herself around and back on her feet moments later, and looked back at the crash site. It had made a sizeable crater, actually; about 15 feet across. A quick scan of the area revealed that, thankfully, her refractor had merely been knocked clear rather than destroyed.

She walked over to the pod, and stepped down into the small crater, stepping closer and closer to the pod, ignoring the small fires that had started. It had some sort of glass window, but that had been fogged over by the crash, making it near impossible to see inside. There was definitely a person in there, though... she searched around for a release, and thankfully found one on the back. She pulled it, and the window of the pod slowly lifted upwards, it's movement being echoed by the hiss of hydraulics. Ira moved around to the the front of the pod, and found the last person she expected looking back at her.

Mega Man.

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Now how's that for a cliffhanger ending, eh? XD At least, I hope it is. >;

Anyway, all characters/settings belong to Crapcom- er... Capcom, blah blah blah. Story itself is mine. :0

Review if you like it Don't review if you don't. I likes me some reviews, though. ;;


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